Sump To Summit

Breakfast at 4.30am meant it was nearly light when we headed out to climb the Dent Blanche South Ridge. We were the last to leave the hut at 5am and climbed the small ridge straight out the back. At the top, we threw on crampons, ready for the snow plod up to the Wandfluelücke ridge.

The ridge itself was mostly snow-free, so crampons came back off to speed things up. We dropped onto the glacier, contoured round and joined the main ridge. After a bit of stomping upwards, we reached the grand gendarme. We’d already decided to avoid the 4B climbing up the spine and take the couloir on the left-hand side instead – we knew it’d be a long enough day as it was.

The couloir had fixed metal spikes we could belay off, but it was in poor nick – thin snow and ice, not weight-bearing, but enough to cover all the decent holds. Progress was slow. Eventually we topped out on the grand gendarme.

From there, we should have stuck to the ridge. But some of the smaller gendarmes looked like they might slow us down, so we tried to bypass them – mistake. Loose rock, sketchy scrambling, and much slower than just taking the ridge direct. We eventually got back on route and reached the Cheval section, which was easily my favourite part of the climb – brilliant exposure and solid climbing.

Near the top, we met another team coming down. They said the final cornice traverse wasn’t in great shape. We decided to climb up to it, grab a photo at 4355m (just 2m shy of the summit), and call that good. Light was starting to go and we still had a long way down.

Descending Dent Blanche

We’d climbed on a 30m rope and carried a 30m Petzl RAD line for retrieval. From just below the summit, we scrambled down for a while before reaching the first belay station. One abseil led to a traverse back towards the Cheval. More abseils followed, but they were slow going. In hindsight, maybe downclimbing would’ve been quicker.

Eventually we abseiled down the side of the grand gendarme, then roped up again for the glacier and ridge. Once we were back on the Wandfluelücke ridge, the rope came off and we motored down to the snow slope. And from there, we did what any self-respecting Brits would do – bum slide!

One last downclimb of the final ridge and we were back at the hut for dinner and a well-earned lie down.

The day was absolutely superb – stunning views, fun climbing, and after two nights at altitude, we actually felt pretty decent up high. We were the slowest team on the mountain that day – as usual – and learned a few more lessons to take into the next one.